Letter: Punishing failure

There have been numerous reports of the obscene amounts of compensation money being given for failure. These include senior local authority personnel, bankers, company directors, civil servants and even politicians thrown out by the electorate.

Then of course there is Edinburgh trams fiasco where some TIE directors received huge pay-offs.

These are all rewards for failure. Meanwhile, ordinary workers who are made redundant receive only very limited compensation for losing their jobs through no fault of their own.

The tax laws allow the first 25,000 to be paid tax-free with the remainder at the applicable tax-rate.

The government may not be able to change contracts of employment or the payments for compensation but they can change the law.

I suggest that these payments should attract a punitive rate of tax of 90 per cent. That should end the greed culture and bring in much needed tax revenue.

Clark Cross

Springfield Road

Linlithgow